Ultrasound imaging has provided useful information about the interior characteristics (e.g., organ tissue, material flow, etc.) of a subject under examination. An ultrasound imaging systems had included a probe with a transducer array and a console. The transducer array has included one or two dimensional arrays of transducer elements. The console has included circuitry to control the transducer elements to transmit an ultrasonic beam and receive echoes produced in response thereto. The console has also included componentry to process the received echoes and generate an image(s) of the interior characteristics.
A one-dimensional array has a single row of transducer elements that extends in the azimuth direction. With a multi-row array, several parallel one-dimensional arrays extending in the azimuth direction are aligned along the elevation direction. Ultrasound imaging can leverage multiple rows of transducer arrays to improve image quality. For example, by operating the rows independently, the depth of the elevation focus can be electrically adjusted, enabling better slice thickness control through a longer depth of the image. This control is particularly well-suited for improving image quality uniformity when imaging at greater depths through a large depth-of-field.
Where each row of a transducer array has the same number of elements, the number of elements and independent channels is proportional to the number of rows. Unfortunately, increasing the number of elements increases the array footprint and the number of channels, which increase the size and cost of the array and/or the cable. A larger cable may cause more stress on the sonographer's hand while maneuvering the probe. A larger array footprint may make it more difficult for the sonographer to make uniform contact between the entire array surface and the subject. Furthermore, a larger array footprint may place new heat dissipation requirements on the probe.